Automatic reversal device for textile wet treatment apparatus

ABSTRACT

An automatic device which reverses the circulation direction of a cloth in rope form in a textile wet treatment vessel in which the cloth in rope form passes between two rollers which rotate by the friction thereagainst of the cloth and apply their rotation to a dynamo having its shaft in common with one of the rollers; the current generated by the dynamo is controlled by a voltmeter which, at certain values thereof, makes an electrical circuit, through a timed relay, having two solenoid valves, one of which drives the liquid inflow control valves for the jet means while the other separates the rollers, leaving the cloth to run freely therebetween.

United States Patent 1 1 Trullas [451 Apr. 24,1973

1 1 AUTOMATIC REVERSAL DEVICE FOR TEXTILE WET TREATMENT APPARATUS [30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 16, 1971 Spain ..392.299

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,222,630 11/1940 Pickford et a1. 68/184 X 3,526,106 9/1970 Kennedy et al. ..,..68/13 R 3,670,531 6/1972 Thies et a1. ..68/1 84 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 278,904 2/1952 Switzerland ..68/1 84 Primary ExaminerWilliam 1. Price Assistant ExaminerPhilip R. Coe Attorney-Richard C. Sughrue et al.

[ 5 7 ABSTRACT An automatic device which reverses the circulation direction of a cloth in rope form in a textile wet treatment vessel in which the cloth in rope form passes between two rollers which rotate by the friction thereagainst of the cloth and apply their rotation to a dynamo having its shaft in common with one of the rollers; the current generated by the dynamo is controlled by a voltmeter which, at certain values thereof, makes an electrical circuit, through a timed relay, having two solenoid valves, one of which drives the liquid inflow control valves for the jet means while the other separates the rollers, leaving the cloth to run freely therebetween.

8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPRZMQYS 3.728.878

' SHEET 1 [1F 2 AUTOMATIC REVERSAL DEVICE FOR TEXTILE WET TREATMENT APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic device for reversing the circulation direction ofa cloth in rope form in a treatment apparatus in which the cloth, forming continuous a unit, circulates in the interior of the treatment vessel drawn along by the treating liquor current which is suitably driven around said vessel by a circulation pump.

The wet treatment of cloths by this process affords excellent results in view of the complete penetration of the liquid in the cloth treated, of the evenness of the treatment and reduced time requirements. Nevertheless, the very feature of the treatment of keeping the cloth in rope form in constant circulation through the liquid implies the need to control this cloth circulation and have a constant control thereover, since any stoppage in circulation or an excessive reduction of the circulation speed produces blockages, accumulation of the cloth, knots in the cloth and deterioration and even destruction of the piece of cloth treated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The prime importance will, therefore, be maintaining a regular circulation of the cloth in rope form in this type of apparatus, and this is the objective of the invention which consists, essentially, of an automatic cloth circulation reversal device for cloth in rope form in a treatment apparatus of the type comprising a treatment vessel for the cloth in rope form, a circulation pump for the treating liquor with control means for the circulation flow created by the pump,jet means for forcing the treating liquor into the vessel and control means for said jet means, said device being characterized in that it comprises in combination: guide means for the cloth in rope form in the treatment vessel; an electrical generator driven by said guide means; indicator means showing the behavior of the cloth in the treatment vessel and connected to said generator; a timed relay obeying certain signals received from said indicator means; and two solenoid valves driven by said relay and associated respectively with the jet means control means and with the guide means for the cloth in rope form, all arranged in such a way that when the cloth reaches a minimum limit speed, the indicator means drives the timed relay which, in turn, drives the two solenoid valves so that one thereof reverses the jetting direction of the jet means and, therefore, the cloth circulation direction, whilst the second solenoid valve operates the guide means to free the cloth.

The cloth guide means inside the treatment vessel are constituted by two rollers facing each other and housed in the treatment vessel, the cloth running between the two rollers so that the friction of the cloth against the facing surfaces of the rollers turns them on their shafts, one of the rollers having the'shaft rotatably mounted in a fixed position in the vessel, whilst the shaft of the second roller is swingable between two extreme positions, a first position of pressure on the cloth against the first roller and a second position of maximum separation from the shaft of said first roller, said swingable shaft being operated by said second solenoid valve.

Preferably the electrical generator of this device is a dynamo, the shaft being an extension of the shaft of said first roller, whereby the rotation of the roller by the friction force of the cloth thereagainst causes operation of the dynamo and consequently produces a current, which depends on the circulation speed of the cloth.

Connected to said dynamo, there is the indicator means for cloth behavior through the treatment vessel. These means is a voltmeter, the dial of which instead of giving a reading of the volts produced by the generator in movement, gives a direct reading of the cloth behavior in the treatment vessel, which reading is obviously dependent on the operating speed of the dynamo which, in turn, is dependent on the cloth speed.

When said indicator means gives a certain reading, the timed relay connected electrically to said indicator means comes into operation, said relay being adjustable to drive the two solenoid valves during a programmed time period. One of said solenoid valves is associated with the jet means and comprises an electropneumatic piston, the rod of which is connected to the control means of the valves which regulate the jet means, so that movement of said rod opens and closes said valves. The second solenoid valve, also driven by the relay, and associated with the cloth guide means, also comprises an electropneumatic piston, the rod of which drives the end of a lever, the other end of which operates, in turn, on a connecting rod in fixed cooperation with the swingable shaft of said second roller, so that operation of the piston rod on the lever, is converted into the action of the lever on said connecting rod which, when moved, causes the shaft of said second roller to swing, separating it from said first roller and, thereby, leaving the cloth in free circulation.

On reversing the jet flow of the treatment liquor in the vessel, the cloth which, for example, was circulating upwardly will now circulate downwardly and freely so that the cause of its difficulty of circulation and reduction of speed will disappear on reversal of the circulation and, once the time period programmed for the relay has expired, this will cease to drive the solenoid valves, whereby the pistons thereof will return to their inoperative position, thereby changing once again the jet flow direction and, withthe rollers establishing contact again with the cloth pressed therebetween, the original situation of operation of the apparatus and circulation of the cloth is reestablished. I

The advantages brought to wet treatment apparatus of this type by a device which automatically reverses the circulation direction of the cloth and avoids blockages thereof and subsequent deterioration, are obvious, since in prior art apparatus it was necessary to maintain a constant watch on the apparatus, with the concommitant risk that any oversight or carelessness could being about complete loss of the cloth being treated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The features and advantages of the invention hereinbefore mentioned will be made more apparent in the following description to be read in conjunction with the drawings in which: 4

FIG. 1 is a view of the ensemble of a treatment apparatus for cloth in rope form with the reversal device incorporated. i

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the reversal device according to the invention, including the electrical circuits.

FIG. 3 is a detail of the part of the device which reverses the jet means.

FIG. 4 is a detail of the part of the device which drives the cloth guide means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION ON THE INVENTION The reversal device according to the invention is for application to a jet type apparatus in which the cloth in rope form circulates through the interior of a treatment vessel drawn along by a flow of treating liquor driven by a circulation pump which supplies the liquor to the treatment vessel through jet means. There are numerous types of apparatus and the present device may be applied to all of them. FIG. 1 shows an apparatus of this type with a treatment vessel 1 of substantially rightangled triangle shape, having a large diameter tube 2 and two smaller diameter tubes 3 and 4, a dome 5 through which the cloth in rope form is introduced into the apparatus by means of device A. Tubular portions 3 and 4 are connected to the large diameter tube 2 by means of the two sections and 8 respectively and the rounded apexes 11, 12 and 13 of this rightangled triangle facilitate the circulation of the cloth. The vessel 1 has three liquid suction chambers 14, 15 and 16 with their respective suction pipes 17, 18 and 19 and respective valves 20, 21 and 22. The pump 25, with its motor 26, drives the treating liquor through conduit 28, heat exchanger 29 and conduit 30 to the interior of the treatment vessel 1 in the region 4 of the vertical leg where the jet means are situated. A by-pass pipe 23a, having a valve 24a, controls the flow rate and the pressure in the treatment vessel by establishing a secondary flow circuit through the pump, delivery conduit 28 and suction conduit 27.

The pump 25 and the jet means, not shown in the figures, set up a treating liquor circulation inside the vessel 1, which circulation draws the cloth in rope form along; the special arrangement of the jet means control valves establishes an anticlockwise or a clockwise circulation. The reversal device is connected into the vessel 1 in the lesser diameter tube 4 of the vertical leg, the casing 101 of said device being shown in FIG. 1. This casing 101 houses internally (FIGS. 2 and 3) the pair of rollers 103, 104 between which the cloth in rope form 105 circulates. As may be seen in FIG. 4, the two rollers 103 and 104 are also situated inside vessel 1. The two rollers 103 and 104, adapted to rotate around their longitudinal shafts 106 and 107 respectively, rotate in opposite directions, driven by the frictional contact of the cloth in rope form 105 on their facing surfaces. The shaft 106 of roller 103 is rotatably mounted in a fixed position with respect to the casing 101, whilst the shaft 107 of roller 104 can swing, separating said roller 104 from roller 103 to allow for the free circulation therebetween of the cloth 105.

Shaft 106 extends externally of the casing 101, the end portion of this extension forming the driving shaft of the dynamo 108 which will generate an electric current of a magnitude proportional to the rotational speed of the roller 103 and, therefore, to the circulation speed of the cloth 105.

The voltmeter 109 connected to the dynamo 108 provides definite indications of the behavior of the cloth through the vessel 1. Therefore, the dial 110 of the voltmeter is not graduated in volts but, as a result of experiments, the indications have been given for reading off as cloth speeds. The voltmeter- 109 is mounted in such a way that when the needle 111 gives a critical reading for the cloth being treated, corresponding to a minimum circulation speed thereof through the vessel 1, contact is made with terminal 112, closing the branch circuit 113 of the line L L said circuit containing the timed relay 114; thus the needle 1 l 1 acts as switch for circuit 1 13.

As the relay 114 comes into operation on closure of circuit 113, it operates switch 115 to establish contact thereof with terminals 116, 117, thereby closing a second branch circuit 118 of the line L, L The solenoid valves 119, 120, driving the electro-pneumatic pistons 121, 122 respectively, are connected in parallel in this circuit.

Piston 121 has its shaft 123 connected to the controls 124,125 of valves 126, 127 which regulate the treating liquor inflow to the upward and downward jets, not shown in the figures, housed in the treatment vessel 1. One of valves 126, 127 is normally closed and the other normally open, for example 127 is closed and 126 is open when the cloth circulates in an upward direction through the jet zone. When circuit 118 closes, piston 121 advances and rod 123 closes valve 126 and opens valve 127 whereby the liquid, flowing from delivery conduit 128 (30 in FIG. 1), and which previously entered the vessel 1 through the upper conduit 129, now enters through the lower conduit 130 (see FIG. 3). Thus the jetting direction of the liquid in the vessel 1 has been reversed and, therefore, the liquor circulation direction and that of the cloth drawn along by the liquor in the vessel will also be reversed.

Solenoid valve 120 acts simultaneously with solenoid valve 119, both being derived from the same circuit 118. Solenoid valve 120 drives an electro-pneumatic piston 122, identical with piston 121 (FIG. 4). Rod 131 of piston 122 is connected at its end 132 to the end 133 of a lever, 134 pivoting about end point 135 of a resilient support means 136 attached at the other end 137 thereof to the base 138 of pneumatic piston 122. The other end 139 of lever 134 is pivotally: connected to the end of the connecting rod 140, the other end 141 of which is attached to shaft 107 of the swinging roller 104 by means ofa plurality of screws 142. When switch 115 of circuit 118 is closed, current reaches solenoid valve 120, solenoid valve 120 drives the pneumatic piston 122, the rod 131 of which, on driving lever 134, causes the connecting rod 140 to move and the subsequent swinging of roller 104 through the are 143. In this way the rollers 103 and 104 are spaced apart, allowing the cloth 105 to run freely therebetween and at the same time the dynamo 108 will cease to operate since cloth 105 will cease to exert a frictional force on roller 103 which drives dynamo 108. Nevertheless, the cloth 105 continues to circulate through the vessel 1, during a predetermined programmed time interval, in the opposite direction to the normal cloth circulation direction in the apparatus, which time interval is preset as considered convenient for disappearance of the irregularities in the cloth behavior which caused the slowing down of the cloth circulation and triggering of the timed relay 114. Said timed relay 114 is adjusted to the above predetermined time interval, after which, it operates on switch 115 to separate it from the terminals 116, 117, breaking circuit 118, thereby cutting off the current from solenoid valves 119, 120 and automatically the pistons 121, 122 return to their original positions, whereby, on the one hand, valve 126 will open and valve 127 will close and, on the other hand, roller 104 will once again press cloth 105 against roller 103, normal circulation of the cloth being reestablished.

This automatic operation of the device is complemented, in a preferred embodiment, by manual control means comprising selector switches disposed in a control desk, not shown, whereby at any time an operator can reverse the circulation direction of the cloth if he considers this to be convenient for the progress of the treatment.

There is no need to insist on the advantages that this automatic reversal device for the cloth circulation provides in this type of apparatus since it prevents serious deterioration of the cloth being treated which often makes the cloth unusable, without needing labor and with its completely automatic operation.

What I claim is:

1. Automatic reversal device for textile wet treatment apparatus, for reversal of the circulation direction of cloth in rope form in a treatment apparatus of the type having a treatment vessel for cloth in rope form, a circulation pump, control means for the circulation flow, jet means and jet means control means, comprising in combinationz guide means for the cloth in rope form; an electrical generator driven by said guide means; indicator means showing the cloth behavior in the treatment vessel and connected to said electrical generator; a timed relay obeying certain signals received from said indicator means; and two solenoid valves driven by said relay and associated respectively with the jet means control means and with the guide means for the cloth in rope form, so that when the cloth reaches a minimum limit speed, said indicator means drives the timed relay, said relay in turn driving the swinging shaft driven by said second solenoid valve,

with a first position in which it presses the cloth against the first roller and a second position in which it leaves the cloth to circulate freely between said rollers.

3. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 2, wherein said electrical generator is a dynamo, the shaft of which is an extension of the shaft of said first roller.

4. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1, wherein said indicator means for the cloth behavior is a voltmeter connected to the dynamo and having a dial indicating the behavior of the cloth in the treatment vessel.

5. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1,

wherein said timed relay is graduable to operate on said two solenoid valves during a programmed time interval.

6. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1, wherein the solenoid valve associated with the jet means comprises an electropneumatic piston having its rod connected to the control means of the jet means control valves.

7. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1, wherein said second solenoid valve associated with the cloth guide means comprises an electro-pneumatic piston having its rod operating on a lever which drives a connecting rod fixed to said swinging shaft of said second roller.

8. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1, wherein said device may be optionally operated by manual operation of selector switches disposed in a control desk. 

1. Automatic reversal device for textile wet treatment apparatus, for reversal of the circulation direction of cloth in rope form in a treatment apparatus of the type having a treatment vessel for cloth in rope form, a circulation pump, control means for the circulation Flow, jet means and jet means control means, comprising in combination: guide means for the cloth in rope form; an electrical generator driven by said guide means; indicator means showing the cloth behavior in the treatment vessel and connected to said electrical generator; a timed relay obeying certain signals received from said indicator means; and two solenoid valves driven by said relay and associated respectively with the jet means control means and with the guide means for the cloth in rope form, so that when the cloth reaches a minimum limit speed, said indicator means drives the timed relay, said relay in turn driving the solenoid valves, one of which reverses the jetting direction of said jet means, whilst the second solenoid valve operates on said guide means, leaving the cloth free.
 2. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1, wherein said guide means comprise two rollers situated inside the treatment vessel, the cloth to be treated running therebetween and frictionally causing said rollers to rotate on their shafts, one of said rollers having its shaft rotatably mounted in a fixed position in the interior of the vessel, whilst the second roller has its swinging shaft driven by said second solenoid valve, with a first position in which it presses the cloth against the first roller and a second position in which it leaves the cloth to circulate freely between said rollers.
 3. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 2, wherein said electrical generator is a dynamo, the shaft of which is an extension of the shaft of said first roller.
 4. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1, wherein said indicator means for the cloth behavior is a voltmeter connected to the dynamo and having a dial indicating the behavior of the cloth in the treatment vessel.
 5. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1, wherein said timed relay is graduable to operate on said two solenoid valves during a programmed time interval.
 6. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1, wherein the solenoid valve associated with the jet means comprises an electropneumatic piston having its rod connected to the control means of the jet means control valves.
 7. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1, wherein said second solenoid valve associated with the cloth guide means comprises an electro-pneumatic piston having its rod operating on a lever which drives a connecting rod fixed to said swinging shaft of said second roller.
 8. Automatic reversal device, according to claim 1, wherein said device may be optionally operated by manual operation of selector switches disposed in a control desk. 